Video: Bummed at no title shot, Strikeforce's Pat Healy ready to 'raise hell'

If honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom, then count Pat Healy a wise man.

Healy (28-16 MMA, 6-1 SF) on Saturday meets Kurt Holobaugh (9-0 MMA, 0-0 SF) on the final card in Strikeforce history. The opponent is a late-notice one for Healy, who twice was supposed to fight lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez for the title. But a nagging Melendez injury has kept that from a possibility, and all the drama surrounding Strikeforce the past few months has Healy not afraid to be honest.

“I’m caught between this (area of) being really appreciative for what Strikeforce has done for me and kind of wanting to move on,” Healy recently told MMAjunkie.com Radio (www.mmajunkie.com/radio).

But move on from Strikeforce is what Healy will do, one way or another, after Saturday’s final card. “Strikeforce: Marquardt vs. Saffiedine” takes place at Chesapeake Energy Center in Oklahoma City with a main card on Showtime (10 p.m. ET) and prelims on Showtime Extreme (7 p.m. ET).

Healy went from fighting Melendez for a title in what would have been the main event to a spot headlining the prelims. The frustration with the turn of events was enough to make him ask the higher-ups at Strikeforce and Zuffa if he could just move forward, already – maybe just skip the Strikeforce swan song and go straight to the UFC.

“I certainly tried to do that, believe me,” he said. “I wasn’t really given that option. They said it was a Showtime thing. But I don’t really know what goes on behind the scenes. I’ve definitely been told plenty of stuff in the last few weeks I’ve found out not to be true. So I don’t know really what to believe at this point. But Strikeforce has been great to me. They’ve provided me a great life. Before Strikeforce, I worked a job and trained – and anybody who does that knows it’s hard to fight at a really high level.”

Losing his shot at Melendez was particularly painful given it’s been a longstanding dream of Healy’s to fight for the belt. Strikeforce will wrap up with Melendez as its final 155-pound champion, and UFC President Dana White has said that it’s likely Melendez will get a quick shot at the UFC title.

Healy goes after his sixth straight win on Saturday against Holobaugh, who is unbeaten – but has never faced someone with the kind of experience Healy has.

He hoped that his sixth straight win would wrap up with a belt being put around his waist, though, and not having his hand raised against someone few fight fans outside of Louisiana have heard of.

“(Not getting a title shot) was a little disappointing,” Healy said. “It’s something I worked really hard for. I wrote down goals when I got signed to Strikeforce, and that was one of the goals. I was working really hard for that.”

Of course, the 29-year-old veteran isn’t looking past Holobaugh. He said he’s a well-rounded fighter with a good submissions skill set that he’ll be on high alert for.

But with a win, he’s hoping he’ll have some momentum heading back into the UFC (he lost his lone fight in the organization in 2006) – where he can join with other Strikeforce fighters in potentially proving some doubters wrong.

“All of us Strikeforce guys being brought over, you kind of feel like you have a chip on your shoulder,” he said. “The Zuffa people who ran Strikeforce always treated us great. But the fans, mainly, treat you like a second-level athlete if you’re in Strikeforce. I’ve seen so many comments that people put about how Strikeforce athletes aren’t that good, and even the champs – (Luke) Rockhold, Melendez, those guys – aren’t going to stand a chance. It’ll be fun watching those guys prove people wrong, and I think there’s some great fighters in Strikeforce that are really going to raise hell in the UFC.”

MMAjunkie.com Radio broadcasts Monday-Friday at noon ET (9 a.m. PT) live from Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino’s Race & Sports Book. The show is hosted by “Gorgeous” George Garcia, MMAjunkie.com lead staff reporter John Morgan and producer Brian “Goze” Garcia. For more information or to download past episodes, go to www.mmajunkie.com/radio.

As the UFC 189 tour made its last stop in Dublin, featherweight champ Jose Aldo was met with a torrent of abuse from the Irish fans. It might have been unpleasant, but it might also have been just what he needed.